Editor's note

• Author: Editor's note
• Pages: 143-144

FRONTIERS OF LAW IN CHINA

VOL. 14 JUNE 2019 NO. 2

DOI 10.3868/s050-008-019-0008-9

FOCUS

AGING POPULATION AND THE LAW: A COMPARATIVE APPROACH

EDITOR’S NOTE

YU Lüxue*

A major issue many countries will face increasingly in the coming years will be how

to deal with the challenges posed by rapidly aging populations and, in particular, who will

be responsible for paying the additional costs associated with this (for example, increased

healthcare and welfare costs). One traditional source of funding is the adult children of

the elderly, and the next two articles provide an assessment of how legal obligations are

imposed, and then enforced in practice, on adult children to provide for their parents in

four countries: the United States, Israel, Singapore, and China (YU Lüxue at Renmin

University of China assesses the United States, Singapore, and China, and Daphna

Hacker at Tel Aviv University considers Israel). These countries have not only different

types of legal systems but also different political, religious, ethical, and philosophical

traditions that influence and shape the relationship between parents and their adult

children.

Despite these differences, which will become apparent from the articles, there are two

general points in common.

First, using the law to impose obligations of support on children is neither new nor

limited to any one type of legal system or religious or ethical tradition. As we will see, in

the United States, filial support legislation dates back to colonial times and was

influenced by laws passed for poor relief in England at the start of the 17th century. In

Israel, the legislation that will be considered dates from the late 1950s. However, it is

perhaps no coincidence that the legislation in Singapore and China is the most recent and

detailed as in both these countries the issues raised by a rapidly aging population are

particularly challenging.

Second, another common thread for these four countries is that formal disputes

relying on legislation and involving parents bringing claims against their children are still

very much the exception. As will be seen in the articles, one reason may be that the law is

* (余履雪) Ph.D. in Jurisprudence, School of Law, Peking University, Beijing, China; Associate Professor,

School of Law, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China. Contact: yuluxue@ruc.edu.cn